Tim--based on the comment above and some of your previous comments, like "What
color are the clouds where you come from?", you seem to imply that reality is a
function of consciousness. It's like an idea that the mind is a synthesizing
device which shapes and distorts reality according to its perceptual filters and
does not validly perceive an objective reality.
Things exist as they are, regardless of anyone's consciousness. But
consciousness can perceive the same existence in many ways. The entities which
have identities already exist in reality, but it is consciousness which
identifies those entities.
But sometimes the mind gets tricked, since it is accustomed to seeing certain
patterns, and mis-identifies something that is not part of an established
pattern. For instance,
Pronounce 'smoke'. Now pronounce 'folk'. What is the white of the egg? No, the
white is the albumen, the yolk is yellow.
But, these mistakes can be corrected, since the mind can identify reality.
-David